Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Yet another tryst with destiny !!

It's official! Donald Trump will be the 45th President of
the United States of America. After a heated campaign witness to a lot of
acrimony, comparable to the Indian assembly polls of 2014, America has finally
chosen.

Now this again is history in the making. America, for better or for worse has
chosen to alter her destiny. America has chosen a rank outsider to lead her for
the next four years.

Trump’s victory is in many ways similar to Modi’s emphatic
election win in 2014. Though they both come from different backgrounds (Modi
was a tea-seller and has risen from a humble background to hold India’s highest
office; Trump is the son of a New York real estate dealer and is a self-made
billionaire), both took on an established political hierarchy and triumphed in
the end, causing major upsets. While Modi is a seasoned politician having been
the Chief Minister of the State of Gujarat for more than a decade, Trump is
more of a businessman with little political experience.

At close of polls on November 8th, Hillary
Clinton was forecast as the clear winner. But the results next day told a
totally different story. A rank outsider took on a powerful political
establishment, and won! Many in America are still shaking their head in
disbelief. How could this have happened? How did an outsider, with little
experience in Politics take on an established and well-oiled political
machinery and bring it down to it’s knees? The answer would lie in Trump’s
shrewd business acumen. A seasoned politician he may be not, but he and his
entourage were shrewd enough to sense the discontentment of the American masses
against the current political and economic setup, similar to the manner in
which Modi took on the established Congress party. Call it the ‘Business of
Politics’ or the ‘Politics of Business’: both Modi and Trump have been canny
enough to tap into the discontentment among the masses caused by the ruling
elite and convert them to votes in their favour.

Both men took on the ruling political
establishment head on and have come up winners (or should I say ‘come up
trumps’ J ).
Both men knew that their respective countrymen were sick at the slow progress
made over the years, at false promises of development, of corruption and
nepotism and mainly about economy and employment. Both men promised the one
thing which previous Governments’ committed to but could not deliver
effectively: Action! And that’s why are where they are now.

To be fair to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, they
planned, organized and executed well. And for a while, it did look like Hillary
Clinton was on the road to become the first ever lady president of the United
States. Indeed, not many people gave Trump a whisker of a chance. While Clinton
was all about ruthless organization and planning, Trump was all about emotion; empathizing
the pain points that the average American felt deeply about: namely corruption,
job cuts and out-sourcing to name a few. Clinton made fine speeches and ran a
perfectly organized and well-oiled political machinery. Trump, on his part mostly
came to meetings unprepared, relying on his wit and huge business experience to
tackle tough questions. It seemed a risky move but it paid off in the end, as
many Americans preferred Trump’s frank and unprepared impromptu honest logic
over Clinton’s organized rhetoric.

Trumps’ victory in 2016 and Modi’s win in 2014 show us one
thing. People want change and action more than anything else. People are sick
of empty words, false promises and the meaningless drivel which seasoned
politicians make. People won’t care about your economic or ethnic background,
your social status etc. as long as you can deliver the goods.

Modi’s government has already delivered above people’s
expectations. The latest masterstroke in his push to make India a global economic
powerhouse is the bold demonetization move, scrapping the Five Hundred and
Thousand Rupee notes to eliminate black money. And if Modi is to be believed,
more is still to come.

The spotlight is in trump now to deliver. One things for
sure. If he (Trump) manages to deliver even half of what he promised during his
campaign, then no-one will give a shit even about his views on women and other
matters. As I said earlier, people want action, and more importantly people
want results. Only time will tell whether America’s choice was correct or
wrong.